


Submitting His Burns

by arbarkati



Category: ACCA13区監察課 | ACCA 13-ku Kansatsuka
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 18:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13013829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arbarkati/pseuds/arbarkati
Summary: Schwan is determined to learn bread baking... or at least keep Magie in his service.





	Submitting His Burns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyjin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyjin/gifts).



Schwan glowered at his chief baker, Fuzz, as Fuzz slowly stepped away from a table neatly piled with ingredients. "Are you sure you want to do this, Your Highness? I could...."

"You will teach me how to make bread," Schwan told him. He could have Fuzz make Magie some bread, but his pride demanded, in the end, that he make it. After all, could he say it was truly by him if he did not?

"Very well, Your Highness. We will start with the first ingredients: the flour, the yeast, the sugar, the salt and the milk. This is a bread maker - they go in there." Fuzz indicated each ingredient in turn, looking at Schwan expectantly. The bread maker was clearly plastic, with a metal bowl in the middle.

It sounded like it was a simple process, then. Much easier than it had sounded when Magie had described it. "Proceed."

"I've measured out the ingredients for you," Fuzz said. "Please place each of them in the metal bowl, the milk first." He folded his hands, wisely letting Schwan follow his instructions instead of trying to do it himself.

Schwan picked up the milk first, weighing it in his hand before pouring it in. The pale fluid coated the bottom of the bowl. The flour - he presumed it was flour - came next, a white powder splashing on top of the milk. Then the yeast, the sugar, the flower, all pale white as they went in. Schwan wasn't sure what the draw of putting these all together was to Magie, but he had to understand if he was to convince his aide that he wanted to stay Schwan's aide instead of leaving to open his own bakery. 

"Very good, Your Highness," Fuzz said, "Now we will add the roux and then start the bread maker."

"Is it normally made in this machine?" Schwan asked. He didn't know much about cooking, to be honest. And he wouldn't have been learning this, after all, if it hadn't been for Magie and his bread obsession.

"The first part, yes. It is a labor-saving device and all bakers use it." 

Magie would use it too, then. "And this roux?" It looked pre-made. Probably that was how it came to the castle.

"Tear small pieces, Your Highness, and add them to the bowl." Fuzz hovered over the roux.

"Show me how small," Schwan demanded. He could not afford to fail at this, and Fuzz knew best about how this bread should be made.

"This small, Your Highness." Fuzz tore out a small amount and showed it to Schwan. It was indeed rather small. He took a small amount of the roux, showing it to Fuzz.

"Is this the correct size?" he asked, letting Fuzz examine it.

"A little smaller, Your Highness." Schwan was sure that Fuzz was being far more patient with him than he would with an apprentice. "Are you sure-"

"I am making this myself. I want to learn." Hadn't he made that clear before? He could tolerate Fuzz measuring out the ingredients for him, but he would make the bread himself. Next time, he could learn how to measure out the ingredients, if this initial loaf worked.

"Very well, Your Highness." Fuzz stepped back, and Schwan carefully tore the roux and put it bit by bit into the bowl. It was almost like dough, he thought, and he wondered again how bread worked. 

"What is this roux made of?" Fuzz would know, even if it was pre-made. 

"Flour and water, Your Highness. It helps the bread rise easier." Fuzz folded his hands in front of him. Schwan had the sense that Fuzz was simplifying things for him. He would let it pass, this time. "Now, we can start the machine." He closed what seemed to be a lid and showed Schwan various knobs, directing him what to turn on. "This will take a little time, Your Highness. The paddles - the little white things you see there - need to do their work."

Of course it would take time, Schwan inwardly groaned. "Very well. Do we need to watch it?"

"I think we should." Probably Fuzz did not need to, but he was humoring Schwan. Schwan actually didn't mind. It gave him something to do. 

"Next time, I will assist you in making the roux so that this is entirely made in these kitchens."

"Very well, Your Highness." Fuzz was nodding. "It is easy enough."

Which made Schwan hope, for Fuzz's sake, that he did not pre-make it for Schwan's benefit. He was pretty sure he made it clear that he wanted to be involved in every aspect, even if Fuzz had pre-measured the ingredients for him.

Schwan watched as the paddles vigorously stirred the ingredients that he'd put into the mixer. He'd have to ask Magie more about this aspect of baking; he was sure that Fuzz was simplifying things for him, which annoyed him to no end. At least watching this bread maker gave him a sense that he was doing something, even if it was watching the paddles.

"What happens next?" he asked. If Magie was looking to do this manually - no, Magie would have sense and buy a bread maker like the castle had - it would be a lot of work, he was sure. 

Maybe he should gift Magie with his own bread maker, just so that his aide wouldn't leave. He couldn't bear the thought of Magie leaving.

Fuzz seemed to fidget a little. "Then we take this pan out, and let the dough rise." He wasn't stupid, Schwan thought. He knew that Schwan could be impatient, which was true, because Schwan knew he could be.

"While the bread is rising, then, you will tell me more about different types of baking." If he could talk intelligently to Magie, so much the better.

Fuzz bowed. "Of course, Your Highness. We'll let the bread maker knead the dough, check on it, let it knead some more, and then it will rise and I can tell you more about baking."

Schwan nodded, watching the breadmaker. The dough resembled the roux, and he wondered if that was intentional. "So, does everything have to rise like this?"

"No, cookies and cakes and other pastries - most of them do not. They rise while they bake. Croissants, however, rise like bread."

That was useful to know. The machine dinged, and Fuzz moved towards it. "You see, Your Highness? The dough is being kneaded nicely."

It wasn't obvious to Schwan, but Fuzz wasn't their head baker for nothing. "So it gets kneaded some more."

"Yes-" Fuzz began to answer, but there was a noise, a clatter, that interrupted him.

"Sir!" It was Magie, and Schwan inwardly groaned. He'd hoped that the bread would be a surprise. "I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?"

"I have been teaching him to bake bread," Fuzz said, as if to smooth things over. "We just started the second round of kneading."

Magie's eyes lit up, and he had a happy expression that he half-tried to hide. Schwan felt the need to interject. "I wanted to understand what you found interesting about it."

"Oh!" his aide caught himself. "You could have asked me, sir."

"I am very honored to have His Highness take an interest in our work," Fuzz told Magie. "Perhaps His Highness could stay for a while longer?"

That was unusual. People didn't usually ask him to stay unless they had to.

"If you don't mind me staying as well," Magie said. "I'd be honored to learn from you."

"Certainly!" Fuzz smiled at that. "As I said, we are about to start the second round of kneading, and then His Highness wanted to know more about baking...."

Magie brightened at this, and Schwan decided the interruption in the end wasn't too bad. He could confess how he felt for Magie someday, and in the meantime, knowing that Schwan had an interest in the making of baked goods might finally, finally convince Magie to stay.


End file.
